Vintage Variety

Stories have been edited for brevity and clarity, but some archaic spellings, phrases and punctuation (or lack thereof) have been retained for period authenticity.

75 YEARS AGO

(Feb. 11, 1916)

ELLEN FROST HELD

Ellen Frost, a variety artist, charged in the Nottingham Magistrates’ Court with sending air-raid news in a letter to her agent (Montague, in London) was remanded on bail.

50 YEARS AGO

(Feb. 12, 1941)

ANOTHER TRY TO CLEAN UP BROADWAY

The Broadway Association is laying plans to put teeth in a campaign, on which discussions were held last summer but nothing done, to brush up the Times Square area in New York for the benefit of all businesses. Deputy Commissioner of Police Francis J. Kear has been designated as the downtown contact on the proposed drive to rid the Gay White Way of undesirable characters, honky-tonks, etc.

25 YEARS AGO

(Feb. 9, 1961)

CALIFORNIA JUDGES QUESTIONING PROPOSITION 15

The California Supreme Court will decide on the issue of the alleged illegality of Proposition 15 on the 1964 ballot as voters were invited to doom a business, Subscription Television Inc. and did just that. Assistant Attorney-General Barrett contended that if subscription TV became popular, advertising video would be relegated to a minor information service. Justice Raymond Peters commented that the competition between subscription and advertising TV was an economic, not a legal problem. Justice Matthew Obriner further observed that the case was a “matter of free speech…”

GROWTH OF ‘BUFFS’ IN PRIESTHOOD

Evidence that the Catholic clergy has become a haven for film buffs – and that the Church cannot, in film matters, be considered a “monolithic” entity – was offered by a young priest present at last Wednesday’s award ceremonies for the National Catholic Office of Motion Pictures. After eagerly discussing a number of recent films, he volunteered that his favorite pictures of all time were Federico Fellini’s “81/2″ and Ingmar Bergman’s “The Silence,” the latter on the NCOMP’s “condemned” list.